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Tuesday, 25 September 2012

Trials With Terry

What is it Chelsea fans say? ‘John Terry. Captain. Leader.
Legend.’ Something like that. They’re understandably loyal at Chelsea mind you.
The rest of us tend towards something like ‘John Terry. Loudmouth. Lech. Very
Slow When Faced With A Striker Who Can Run A Bit.’

Of course the truth is somewhere in the middle.

The best thing about John Terry is that he’s stopped playing
for England. Ah now, that was just my little joke. The best thing about him is
all those things that Chelsea fans adore – his whole-heartedness, his
never-say-die attitude, and the fact that for an English centre-back he’s
really quite good at passing accurately to a team-mate.

Those of us who witnessed the slip -on-the-arse that crapped
on his dreams in 2008 can’t have been unmoved. Indeed I moved from off the
chair and on to the floor very quickly, guffaws raining from my throat. Then
again, the bloke stepped up when, say, Knackersless Anelka couldn’t.

On the pitch, the odd allegedly racist remark aside, he has
been a model professional. He is very good at what he does, and was, undeniably
one of the best England players at the Euros. It is off the pitch where most of
his shit happens.

There have been rumours – and these are only rumours – that
Terry took it upon himself to take guided tours around Stamford Bridge (the
football ground not the site of the battle of 1066) for £10k a pop. (I think
any monies accrued have been donated to charity since if indeed they were
offered in the first place.)

It should be pointed out that he has been found not guilty of much of this stuff: not
guilty of attacking a doorman with a bottle; not guilty of attacking a
bottle-man with a door; not guilty of being racist whilst using racist
language; not necessarily guilty of shagging Wayne Bridge’s bird when Wayne was
still with her. Indeed Ms Perroncel, a lingerie model and ‘nightclub hostess’,
has often denied the relationship. Which is good cos JT is the father of twins
n that.

Frankly that whole saga never much bothered most people, did
it? So Terry was an unreliable mate and a disloyal husband – it’s not like that
sets him apart from any other footballing legend, is it, Ryan? And Bridge
probably could have bought himself a huge, state-of-the-art pram from the money
he was earning as a mercenary Citeh bench-warmer. Get over it.

The fact that this led to Terry losing the England captaincy
was silly but inevitable. He still got to go to the 2010 World Cup, mind –
partly because there wasn’t a player in the squad who wanted him back in
England while they were away for three weeks - and at times he still seemed to
feel that he was England skipper. That press conference betrayed a man who was
quite happy to show how bent out of shape his conk was, regardless of the
consequences. The consequences were that some bright young German things made
the Captain, Leader, Legend look like Corporal Jones. He was far from alone.

When Capello returned to Terry as skipper most of us were
gob-smacked. Mud was sticking to him like a sun-baked hippo, Ol’ Fab had always
insisted that the captain’s name should make no difference, and there he was
giving the armband to Football’s Dark Side. Odd, to say the least.

But it is of course all this racist stuff that has brought
things to a head. It meant Terry lost the England captaincy again – which was
fair enough with a charge like that dangling over his head. But to be perfectly
(fat) frank, I feel a bit of sympathy for the bloke for the first time… ermmm, ever,
actually. If the criminal courts have found him not guilty then why try him all
over again in a courtroom with less stringent applications of the law?

I mean if he was charged with nicking an apple, found innocent,
and then his employers had a quick tribunal type thing and thought that in all
honestly he probably might have nicked the apple so that’s probably enough
reason to say he did (particularly
when scrumping is front-page news these days) then one might just feel that the
world had gone tits up.

There is the idea floating around that Terry ‘had it
coming’. He is not a model citizen. He must know what’s coming or he wouldn’t
be resigning now. If nothing else, it has always been very obvious that playing
for his country means a heck of a lot to him.

But it’s farewell, JT. I’m not sure that he’ll be a huge
miss for the national team despite what Hodgson says. He resigns at a time when
England could do with looking a little further ahead than the end of the last
lot of hope-crushers. If we’re going to fail let’s get some new people to do it
for us, eh?

Terry will go down as one of the best centre-backs England
have had – and probably the least-loved. He's been a sort of necessary evil.
Even Ashley Cole's value as a superb footballer has seen him tentatively embraced by the English public. But JT? Well on balance I'd say 'Captain. Leader. Knob-End.'

250 comments:

I'm of the belief that he's part of the generation that should be moved on from the England team anyway, despite Hodgson hanging on to them all. So for him to make this gesture of falling on his sword and trying to take the moral highground stinks a bit too much for me.

As you said Robbo, a great player at times, one of few that are left who take great pride in wearing an England shirt, but an utter, utter cunt (sorry Bells) off the pitch.

Terry's retirement is clearly a case of jumping before he's pushed. That much is obvious.

Question is, should he be answering a case before the FA at all, considering his aquittal in the court-case. I think the answer's yes, and here's why:

1) The FA has it's own set of laws to enforce. It has UEFA and FIFA guidelines to enforce. It can't and shouldn't defer to other authorities to enforce these regulations.

2) The courts have to prove beyond reasonable doubt that Terry said the things he probably said. The FA only have to believe he probably said them. It can use the fairly obvious video evidence as well as testimonies to put two and two together. The FA know the sort of things that go on on a football pitch. They know the sort of character Terry is. And they will be under pressure from UEFA, FIFA, ambassadors, partners, sponsors, and many other directions, all wanting them to make an example of Terry. As they should.

On a seperate note, I, like Noel above, am glad I won't see him play for England again, as I too feel it's high time we moved on from the failed "Golden Generation" era.

Lampard, Gerrard, Cole and co need to be replaced with the next generation, as it's clear to most that those players weren't good enough to win past tournaments, and aren't good enough to win future tournaments either. Why persist with them now through their twilight years? Get some younger players some international experience and develop a more modern tactical approach with more technically-adept footballers. Surely that's the way forward?

Adverts on the local TV channel pronouncing Heskey as the new saviour of the Newcastle Jets. The commentary says '87 caps for England, over 500 Premiership appearances, including 107 for Liverpool'. No mention of any goals scored as I guess that statistic won't draw the punters in. A front two of Emile Heskey and Michael Bridges. It's a good thing there's no relegation in the A-League.

Guilty or not guilty? I think you give him too much benefit of the very little doubt that exists Robbo.

He managed to get away with the racist slur which he clearly mouths in a criminal court because the burden of proof is higher but Christ how much higher can it be. "i was just passing a friendly rejoinder that I hadn't called him a black cunt." wtf? Guilty.

Peroncells denials make Andrew Mitchells look like the model of credibility. Guilty.

And I am that bottle man, going about my innocent bottle collecting hobby in a field in Kent one November morning in 2006 when out of the blue Terry attacked me with a door. Guilty.

But as I mentioned on previous blog what I found truly nauseating about this wheedling posturing amoral pitiful excuse for a man is the way nothing is ever his fault. Witness his burning martyr routine over his retirement "its all the FAs fault sniff sniff." The FA instead of its bland rebuttal should have released a press statement saying simply "No john its your own fault because you consistently behave like a twat". JT is eternally Not Guilty in his own mind, robbo, he doesn't need any help there from us.

Having said all that I do think he attracts disproportionate villification. He's not the criminal scum I'm sure we've all encountered I think he's just someone whose moral code only extends to what he thinks he can get away with ie a bit of a bell-end. It's just that I expect a bit more from the England captain, its a representative position and I don't think JT has ever understood that.

Why is it I think that next month he will say Roy has talked me round and I am looking forward to Rio (de Janeiro not Antons brother).Did Rio (Antons brother)write the choc ice comment or was it some one else on his twitterDel

In my humble opinion I think we're all missing what's really important with this issue.

It surely comes as no surprise to anyone that JT's gonna paint himself as a martyr, he's always had a "what the fuck did I do wrong?" attitude about all his transgressions.

There's also no denying that he was a decent enough CB and had a real passion when playing for England.

Everybody and their mum knows that he is a bit of a scumbucket, a self serving twat and definetly called Anton Ferdinand "a black cunt", the proof is insomountable, but all the above is just a smokescreen for what I think is really the main issue;

The biggest question should be why the hell it's taken the FA so long to resolve this issue?

This incident happened last October, that's almost a whole year ago, how the fuck can anyone justify that?

The Suarez v Evra incident happened in the same month, yet Suarez was accused, tried, scentenced and punished before the end of that year. Yet until now the FA have failed to do anything about JT. How can this be deemed fair?

Why were Chelsea allowed to go on in the PL and reach an FA Cup and CL final with their squad intact while Liverpool lost the services of one of their players?

Even though they had already stripped him of the captaincy forcing the then manager to resign was JT not brought up sooner because he was a member of the England squad and the FA did not want to disturb the England camps build up(any futher)?

If so, then isn't this racism in itself perpetrated by the FA?

What I see is that if you're an English racist then we'll give you time, but if you're a Johnny Foriegner racist then you'll be swiftly dealt with.

Whatever the outcome, once again the knobs at the FA have handled this atrociosly and something has got to be done about their archaic ways..............

I'm not trying to defend the FA who seem to balls up the most basic of tasks but I think that the main problem was that once the police got involved and it became a matter for the courts the FA couldn't act before in case they prejudiced the court case by finding him guilty ahead of that. As the police weren't involved in the Suarez incident the FA could act on it straight away.

The problem has been the police investigation - which was almost never going to result in a conviction as it was based on hearsay evidence (lip-reading from a video is not considered primary evidence) and therefore very hard to prove "beyond reasonable doubt". Without that, the FA would have had to act - albeit very uncomfortably - prior to the Euro's.

After Suarez, the FA have to look like they are not racist themselves (anti-south American) and I can't see the balance of evidence getting Terry off. The only saving grace appears to be the relative lack of reaction from Anton Ferdinand and his early testimony that he hadn't heard anything himself. If Ferdinand has gone back on this (I am not sure of the current status of his testimony) then it says something more about what his (Ferdinand's) role has been.

Well said as always, Robbo. JT makes me uncomfortable as a Chelsea fan. Then again, most sides have at least a few less-than-gentlemen out there every week. I get the feeling most people won't be happy until he is convicted of something, anything, even if it takes a kangaroo court. (In his next stop in the A-League.)

That's a bit of an old one Colch, started during Woy's days, the original joke was "below you only West Ham'. Seeing as we had a wafer thin squad to start with and we have alredy lost Lucas for a few months, Agger and Kelly for the rest of the year and Borini for an undetermined period, it could well be "below us only well..er..holy fuck, there's no one below us".

Don't get too downcast AH. Until the sending off Liverpool were the better side. What everyone seems to have ignored in all the contoversy surrounding the sending off is the generally abject Man U. performance.

Fair point, Anon MU fan, there is nothing like playing poorly but still winning. You could probably look at all their championship winning seasons and find games where they "won ugly" it is an attribute of all top teams.

Not much left to say about Terry. His decision to retire from international football came about three years too late but at least now we have one less arsehole in the England squad. Now to be arsehole free we just need Rooney, Gerrard and Cole to hand in their notice. Then if fat frank does the right thing and follows his club skipper into retirement we can finally get on with the task of team building.

Always grateful for the online 'British food shop' in Australia. Just received my latest order from them and just had a snack of a few packets of scampi flavoured fries washed down with a can of Irn Bru. Bliss.

I take your point re Suarez. Terry's obviously brought in a legal team that could split the hairs on a flea's forelegs and that's what's meant he's got away with it in court. If the FA come to a different conclusion then surely the whole thing's become a bit of a mockery. Having said that Terry would have to get the same punsihment as Suarez or that too would be a travesty. The postponing of the court case in the first place was a ridiculous piece of chicanery by Terry's legal team. But the FA have let themselves be pulled about like a puppy on a big leash and once again you're left with the impression that the fact that this bloke was England captain meant that he was given way more leeway than anyone else. The happy result of all this is that Terry is now Chelsea's probem and no one else's. Phew.

Warnock Jan 2011 "For many years I have thought he (Diouf) was the gutter type – I was going to call him a sewer rat but that might be insulting to sewer rats."

Warnock (today) "Diouf's current deal with Leeds runs out at the turn of the New Year, but Warnock is convinced that the striker won't be going anywhere. "Dioufy will not go anywhere else, he's promised me certain things and I'm happy with that," Warnock said.

------------------From worse than a sewer rat to Dioufy in a season and a bit. Funny stuff.

Actually, now that I think of it, I'm good at defending a fish supper. My kitten loves to try to barge into whatever I'm eating, so I'm practicing food-defense almost every day. If anyone needs lessons, just let me know. We start with food that doesn't need utensils, move to food you can cut with a fork, then food that requires a knife, and finally soup.

Australian side Newcastle Jets have had to place an order for an additional 5,000 Emile Heskey jerseys after they sold out of their first batch following the striker's move to the New South Wales club.================================What is wrong with the Aussies. Did they mistake him for somebody else ?

As someone who lives in Newcastle, Australia, I'd like to say that, while there has been some excitement (mainly whipped up by the local paper), every Jets fan that I've spoken to is very underwhelmed by Heskey arriving, and absolutely no-one is expecting to see many goals from him.

Wow, how awesome is that. Liverpool's kids doing one better than the first team at the hawthorns. The silver lining of completely bolloxing the transfer window is the excitement that comes from seeing people like 16 yr old Jerome Sinclair playing. Hell not just playing, but winning.

Demetris Ioannides on Twitter: "Jamie Carragher has played 555 more games for Liverpool than all his teammates tonight put together."

Four match ban for terry despite being allowed to drag his case on enough for him to play all of last season's games. As captain of the English team, I would've expected him to get at least the same if not more than Suarez.

Clouseau: You have received a beump on the head. Dreyfus: Beump? Clouseau: What? Dreyfus: You said beump. Clouseau: Yes, I know that. It is a large beump. You could receive the concussion from such a beump.

A. a 4 week reduction for the addition of "cunt" B. a 4 week reduction because he resigned from International football? C. a 4 week reduction because he's English?D. a 4 week reduction because he's represented by a top lawyer who made a deal with the FA.

It's a load of bollocks. The message to the youth of the country is that if you play football it's ok to call your opponent a cunt.

Well maybe not seeing as they fined him 220k as opposed to Suarez's 40k fine, I guess they maybe considered it a worse crime, but hey hang on, half the games ban, so er..maybe..umm...fuck it, its too complicated. Maybe the 215 page verdict they release might throw some light on this.

Suarez got double the suspension because he couldn't have known how sensitive the English (and French) would be to his particular use of the word "negro", while Terry should have known that "black" was offensive. Or is that backwards...

Actually, the difference could be in "black" as a descriptor for other profanity vs. "negro" as the entire insult. If Terry had called Rio a motherfucking shitwhore of a cuntbag, then I suppose he would have gotten off without punishment, right? But calling someone a negro (okay in your own country, apparently) gets eight matches. And using "black" as an adjective gets your four matches.

What are the odds for the next racist incident? If you can win $10k for your kid playing for Man U (http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/soccer-dirty-tackle/ryan-tunnicliffe-dad-wins-10-000-bet-manchester-183832119--sow.html) then you must be able to come up with some crazy stuff...

I thought that was a fancy way of telling AJ that he was buying too much into what the press was telling him. The Framus appears to a combination of the framework or history that people keep craming down your throat to moralise a thesis that this is how the world should be and if you don't accept that then you are mistaken. The ramistan is the latest outrage they ram down your throat, in this case Afghanitan and the Taliban and the war in Iraq, which as Paulie sees it you can not change and it seems to be created by those same idelas he just spoke of intersecting at the one truth that he believes in , family. The Paternostra is a vague reference to the fact that organized crime in their world is male dominated family oriented group and it is there to protect your interests as a family. What Paulie is trying to convey here to AJ is that you need to get your priorties straight, family first, countries and the world way down the line. In other words, he is tell AJ to shut up and listen to his father more before he finds himself out of the one thing he can truly count on, family. Paulie is old school smart.

The workings of this is starting to seem like quantum physics, the state apparatus of 14th C Bytantium and Finnegans wake all wrapped up in godels theory of indeterminacy written in illegible handwriting on the back of an Evening Sentinel article about Stochastic remodeling but the thing I find funny about it is that according to JTs version of events all he was telling Ferdinand was that he wasn't calling him a black cunt so....unless Ferdinand actually said "did you call me a black cunt", and if he'd admitted having said that its a non issue do I assume he didn't.... JT is in groundhog day endlessly repeating a denial no one believes like a kid with jam all round his mouth denying he ate a jam butty

Not sure how many of you follow the Bugle, and this is a week late given the chanting theme, but the best-ever death-related football chants start at about 16:00. Back it up a bit further for more context, or don't. (Or just listen to the whole thing.)

http://thebuglepodcast.com/?p=431

Somehow I picture Joey Barton leading the chants rather than Andy Zaltzman.

I can't believe I'm typing this but I actually agree (in principle) with Pulis. Give the pricks who want to gain an advantage through cheating time on the bench to think about it... not sure about a three match ban (1 less than than for racially abusing an opponent - if you are English that is.) but certainly one or two matches.

I played Ridgewood on Tuesday, home of the Ryder Cup 77 years ago and more recently The Barclays. The club house has a gold replica of the trophy and all sorts of pictures from over the decades, very cool as the Yanks say.

In related trivia, over the last 5 years they've cut down 4,000 trees, leaving only 2,000 on the course. I hit all of them.

Yeah but he's no good at it. Everytime he dives he gets either nothing or worse still, yellow carded. We need someone better who could do a welbeck/valencia and get us a couple penalties along the road.

Without doubt I'm the only one on this blog watching the Being:Liverpool mini series. While it makes really interesting viewing for any Liverpool supporter, having seen just the first episode so far, I have to say that I am really, really, and I mean REALLY disliking Ian Ayre. He probably had about 3 minutes in the 45 minute episode, but that was enough for me to reach my conclusion.

Steve Kean 'forced to resign' as Blackburn Rovers manager.=======================================About fucking time I guess. Strangely kept his spot despite being relegated, and was kicked out when they're in an automatic promotion spot.

One good thing about being a 55 yr old port vale fan is I get in for free by pretending to be a cleaner. Then there's verbally abusing the ref with impunity and watching the dozy prat next to me getting ejected from the ground cos the police can't believe a 55 yr old lady just called the ref a fucking cheating cunt. Best thing of all though is the look on the opposition fans face when I fucking twat the bastard .

I'm coming to the view that Brendan rodgers believes his own hype, a bit like Phil "you've been tangoed" brown a few seasons ago. The fly on the wall documentary and the way he is criticizing Enrique and the hapless and obviously on the way out Stewart downing (who will never be a left back in a million years) is a major departure from kop traditions. It's almost like he's saying to the American owners look I'm the anti-Kenny.

This statement is absolutely hilarious... actually its borderline insane... expect to see Brenda tilting at a windmill near you soon......

"I believe that 70-plus points will allow you to arrive in the top four. So that gives us 68 points that we need over the remaining games."

That's right Brenda, and Reading need only 69 points and they're champs.

Fuckin hell.10 goals in the last 2 games for liverpool despite playing all the U-19s we could grab hold off. Not half bad. And good to see Suarez grab 3 goals and an assist despite being denied the most stonewall of penalties.

Either that or they've let the local mental patients stop licking the windows and put down their crayons and given them access to twitter. From what I saw we were shit for 15 minutes and then not bad for the rest of the game.

Was that 10 years' worth of disallowed goals, Fergie-time winners, controversial decisions and broken hearts all coming back to bite Taggart on the arse? What a fucking game! AVB haters pretty quiet in the media today.

And Fergie complaining that 4 minutes of injury time was an insult. What a complete and utter twat.

Grand Final day in the NRL today, so settling down on the sofa at 10am, opening my first cold VB and watching 7 hours of build up and the game itself. Just like the old FA Cup final days when I was a little lad. Without the VB obviously - I drank Stella back then.

Bo, did you catch the AFL Grand final yesterday? Sydney Swans beat Hawthorn.

Saf's like the old relative at a family party who pisses everyone off knowing that no one will be as rude or bolshie in return. Expect more of his manipulative bollocks because their midfield is a bit crap and now the defense is creaking. Moyes must be a good shout to replace him. Season after season of over achievement on a relative shoestring at everton.

Speaking of creaking. MotD is looking tired ain't it. The bullies at itv have the advantage and cliche monger Hanson is not going to return like pele in escape to victory to score an overhead bicycle kick with a broken rib. I have to put up with mundane tweets from players now? Where's the ff.

Auto sign-on doesn't appear to work here, so have to sign-in every time. Only problem is that I have so many damn passwords, can't seem to remember all of them -- mind you, at 55 I've done enough thinking for two seventy-year olds, so probably heading towards double-alzheimers.

Blogidy, I'd recorded both of the MotD's from the weekend and watched them in the early hours of this morning.

Just when I thought that program couldn’t possibly get any worse, someone at the Beeb decided to put Gary Lineker in a blond wig and a dress ,put Mick Eckythump McCarthy on the pundits coach and flash random tweets from illiterates after every game, thank the lord for the ff button on my remote. Just over two hours of football related “entertainment” viewed in less then 38 minutes.

I don't know why I looked, but I did, and it didn't disappoint. Garth Crooks team of the week. I only got as far as the second player: 'Jan Vertonghen - the Dutch defender...' He's Belgian, Garth, you fucking prick.

This after the Beeb reported an interview with Sergio Aguero where the player said that in every country, the home players get better treatment then foreigners, but he didn't believe that it was a problem in England. But the BBC instead went with 'Aguero says foreigners are treated unfairly'. Am I just getting older and more cynical, or is the standard of the media dropping so far, so fast?

Another loss for Mark Hughes, and another red card for his team. Makes your heart bleed doesn't it?

H - MotD is approaching the unwatchable. Mock McIrishman is a cartoon figure. Brains Hanson is a Thunderbird puppet. Bizarrely gabby Logan/ that bloke off the crisp advert are interchangeable..have they ever been seen in the same room together? ....there couldn't be a bigger gap between football insight and smug self satisfaction if the presenters were Julian clarey, Julian assange and Julie fuckin birchill.

Bolton manager Owen Coyle: "Our performance level, particularly in the first half, was outstanding in terms of passing, moving the ball and creating chances."We showed a lot of spirit and grit to get back into the game. The skipper [Kevin Davies] epitomised everything we want at the football club, and in truth we should have gone on to win the game."There's a lot to be pleased about in respect of the performance level, but we're disappointed to have passed up two points. Those results will come."

It'll be a sad day when I eventually come round to liking Gary Neville, but he's bloody good at what he's doing now. In fact, he was always bloody good at what he did. If he hadn't been such a cunt then it'd be so much easier. If he played for any other club, I'd have always liked him. But he didn't. And so I haven't.

Life here is very different to life in Australia mate and the difference is what I love about the place. I am very adaptable so the change in lifestyle hasn't been difficult to handle. We are moving into our new house in November... that will improve things even more.

Sadly not been about for a while as firstly very busy in job - total outrage having to actually earn my money - and secondly suffered a repetitive injury on Sunday morning, when I fell off my chair laughing when I saw Man U v Spurs result (when done to you Noel & co)

Some people might think that Chelsea were well matched in last nights game, but obviously us fans know better and that they were just toying with the bacon munching players of the other team, leading them into a false sense of hope that at one-nil, until last ten minutes, they may have some hope of equalising. Superb tactics from Di Matteo and the players impressed me by following his instructions so well.Right now to read what has been going on with you lot in my absense

I've kept quiet on the Robing van Pursestrings situation, but I have to say I agree with Bo, I'd rather have seen him at Cireh and I could of understood him moving there more.

He and his agents made his position at us untenable with that infamous statement, it was basically a plee to the clubs that pay stupid wages to come get him, he was looking for a pay hike and was hoping for a move to Barca, Real or Citeh, yet none of them came in for him. The only big euro team that did was Juve, but after hearing what he was demanding in pay they could only offer about 25p for his transfer fee.

Don't believe for a second that when that statement was made that he'd envisioned himself at OT, and if you want to give me any of that little boy inside of me crap, then I'll show you that little boy;

You can also say that he went to IOU to win trophies, but I believe if they are victorious this season it will be because of him, he makes an average team better.

It's sad the way he left, but that's just the way it is in football, players want to make as much dough as possible and I for one can't blame them for that, just don't try to con us with all the - It's not about the money- bullshit when it clearly is.

United have got a hell of a player, I'll never deny that, but it won't stop me throwing up a bit in my mouth everytime I see him in a red devil shirt. Going to that lot he betrayed us all and shattered his legacy.

H2H, although not an Arsenal fan, I feel your pain. As you say, it's all about the money and players going through the charade of, "I don't really want to leave but unless you give me a shed-load of dosh I'm off.." leaves a bad taste in the mouth. Your only consolation may be that RvP is 29, his best years may well be behind him and in 3 years he'll be off to the USA.

I'm getting the gloating in early as once we have a couple of injuries/suspensions to any of Fella/ Peanut/Jelavic we'll start sliding down the table as our squad is woefully short in quality (re Leeds) if not for once, numbers.My theory is that Moyes has suddenly lost his fear of strikers in order to say to the Glazers "Look, I do know where the goal is, see?" As for going to OT whoever takes that job after Ol' Beetroot Face is on a hiding to nothing. If it's Moyes then good luck to him, he'll need it.

Just when you thought that Mike Ashley was doing a decent job at not being a complete turnip, he reverts to type and give his management team 8 year contracts.

Now, I'll be the first to admit that Pardew has done a pretty decent job at the Whateveritscalledthisyearpark, but EIGHT years? Surely that's a huge gamble?

I see many tipping them for a top 4 finish this time around, personally I can't see it, so what happens if they don't do so well this time? Even worse if they hit a slump? That would be some hell of a payoff if it all goes pear shaped.

Mark Hughes, 48, has been assured by owner Tony Fernandes that he retains the full support of the Queens Park Rangers board and there will be no knee-jerk reaction to the club's position at the bottom of the Premier League.

Come on guys, fed to the pigs, hung, drawn and quartered... where's your imagination... hang him by his thumbs over a charcoal fire with vera lynn's "we'll meet again" playing on a loop until the hair on his head begin's to smoke, then you can hang, draw and quarter him and feed him to the pigs.

Reading boss Brian McDermott says he has been told that the Royals have been on the wrong end of key refereeing decisions this season because his players do not appeal enough. "My concern slightly, or more than slightly," he said "is the conversations with two people now; the match delegate at the Chelsea game said that my players didn't appeal for the (Fernando) Torres offside goal, and the fourth official said to my goalkeeping coach that only two of my players appealed (against Newcastle)."======================================================

What's going on here? Are the FA thinking that we're playing cricket all of a sudden. Match officials saying players need to appeal more to get decisions??

ROBBO

I am Derek Robbo Robson. From Middlesbrough. My blog was on the BBC for years. I talk about sport. And nowt much else. If you like sport, you'll like this. If you don't like sport you should read it any road cos you should like sport. What's wrong with yer?